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Democrats have slammed Elon Musk after his opposition to Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposed congressional spending invoice led Donald Trump and JD Vance to order Republicans to not assist it, leaving the federal authorities hurtling towards one other shutdown.
Johnson’s stop-gap persevering with decision (CR) would have bankrolled the federal government at present funding ranges by to mid-March 2025, however the president-elect and his deputy’s intervention now seems to have tanked its probabilities of passing in its current type earlier than Friday’s deadline, sparking chaos on Capitol Hill.
After Musk spent the day posting feedback expressing his objections to the invoice on his social media platform X, Trump and Vance weighed in with their very own opposition to Johnson’s measure, saying it failed to deal with the nationwide debt ceiling and granted too many concessions to Democrats.
They known as on Republicans to desert it or face a future major problem and favor a brand new “streamlined” various as a substitute.
Main the Democratic jeering was Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who wrote on X: “Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it.
“Will Republicans kiss the ring? Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government.”
Additionally having fun with the obvious energy battle throughout the incoming Trump administration and questioning who is basically in cost was David Axelrod, former White Home adviser to Barack Obama, who requested on X: “So will President-elect Musk join the budget negotiations now?”
Including their voices to the row had been Democratic representatives Pramila Jayapal and Maxwell Alejandro Frost.
“It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump,” the previous wrote.
“Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead.”
“An unelected billionaire was crowned co-President by the Republican Party,” Frost posted.
“They’ve given him the influence to make a damn post that throws a spending bill into limbo cause House Republicans are scared of him.
“No greater example of oligarchy. Where the ultra-wealthy run the show.”
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Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a SpaceX launch in Texas final month (Reuters)
Republicans had been additionally reportedly left blindsided by Wednesday’s developments, in accordance with The Hill.
Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins stated she was “surprised” by the demand.
“I was surprised that he wants to move the debt limit vote up to this year,” she advised reporters. “I don’t know his rationale.”
Her North Carolina GOP counterpart Thom Tillis stated he has “no problem” with the calls for made by Trump and Vance however added: “I just don’t know why Senator [Chuck] Schumer would accept it.”
However maybe probably the most withering remark of all got here from the outgoing Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, who stated that his colleagues shouldn’t be remotely shocked by disagreement between Musk and Johnson.
“Oh, this is the way it’s going to be next year,” McConnell assured a reporter as he left his workplace for the day, evidently glad to be washing his arms of the infighting by crusing off into retirement.
As McConnell urged, the row exposes what might show to be a risky fault line between two key allies of the brand new president in Johnson and Musk, head of the newly-formed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), with the previous working to seek out consensus in Congress and negotiate departmental budgets and the opposite in search of to trim the fats and slash and burn “excessive” spending wherever he finds it.
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Republican Home Speaker Mike Johnson as soon as once more finds himself beneath intense stress (AP)
Johnson, who met with Vance for an hour final night time to aim to iron out their variations, is already going through hypothesis that he might now be challenged for the gavel within the new yr as he seeks re-election to the speakership, with the MAGA wing of the GOP reportedly drawing up a listing of doable candidates to switch him.
Requested about Musk’s criticism on Fox and Pals earlier within the day, Johnson stated he had mentioned the matter with the tech mogul and his DOGE colleague Vivek Ramaswamy by textual content and stated: “They understand the situation. They said, ‘It’s not directed at you, Mr Speaker, but we don’t like the spending.’ And I said, ‘Guess what fellas? I don’t either.’
“We’ve got to get this done because, here’s the key, by doing this, we are clearing the decks and we are setting up for Trump to come in, roaring back, with the America First agenda.
“That’s what we’re going to run with gusto beginning January 3, when we start the new Congress, when Republicans again wrench control and all of our fiscal conservative friends, I’m one of them, will be able to finally do the things that we have been wanting to do for the last couple of years.”
